Intermountain Cricket League, Week 7: Sabrecats take control of second place

SABRECATS 198, BEEHIVE 135: At Salt Lake City, despite the searing heat on Sunday it was a good day to be playing cricket. The game saw the Sabrecats win their second straight game while the Beehive Cricket Club return to ICL play.

Beehive captain Tariq won the toss and elected to field first. Right from the start both of the Sabrecats’ opening batsman Nasir Khan and Shazad Ahmed felt real comfortable on the crease, and was able to keep the scoreboard ticking. Both of the opening batsmen laid a solid foundation for the hard-hitting middle-order batsmen.

Shazad Ahmed led the club with 58 runs while Nasir and Swadhin Saurabh added 22 and 18 to the teams tally. These three batsmen were retired (not out) during the game. Ishaq Afridi had a blistering cameo for 33 runs in just nine balls. Sabrecats were able to muscle in 198 runs in 20 overs for three wickets loss.

Beehive started its inning very aggressively. The hard-hitting Fahad Rana kept up with the required run rate of 10 runs an over. That run rate took a hit when Arun Salimath took a wicket in his first over. At the early stages of Beehive’s inning, it appeared that, Beehive will easily win the match but the speedy pace battery of Sabrecats’ bowlers kept the Beehives batsmen on their toes by making it default to score against them. Fahad Rana got caught and bowled on Ishaq’s delivery. After the fall of the second wicket, the Sabercats’ bowlers took control of the match.

The Intermountain Cricket League will now take the Fourth of July weekend off before breaking for Ramadan. The five-team league is scheduled to resume play on Aug. 11.

During the break, the Salt Lake County Sabrecats are looking to fill out their roster. Interested players contact Nasir Khan at 801-913-1786 or nasirjkhan@msn.com